


Debt Come Due

by briarglades



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Cyclonus/Tailgate mentioned/implied, Gen, Noncanon Pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 17:11:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6528709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briarglades/pseuds/briarglades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of MTMTE 47, Cyclonus wants to have a conversation with Whirl. Whirl objects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debt Come Due

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic Whirl, Cyclonus, and Tailgate all use she/her pronouns. If you would like to read an edit of this fic with canon pronouns it can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6742573).

A knock rings out at Whirl’s door. She calls out her customary joking greeting: “Friend or foe?”

A pause goes by before the reply comes, low but confident. “Friend, if you’ll have me.”

Whirl crinkles her optic and stalks to the door. Ushering Cyclonus in to stand, unsure of her welcome, above one of the seats, Whirl mutters, “Oh now _this_ I’ve gotta hear.” She stalks over, sprawling into her customary seat, and asks sarcastically, “So, Cyc, what makes you think you’ve got what it takes to be _my_ friend?”

Cyclonus blinks, wrongfooted. “I -” She considers a moment before continuing, “You’ve saved Tailgate’s life twice now. I owe you something more than just a stay of execution for a revenge you never really earned.” She lets out a small chuckle, shaking her head self-deprecatingly. “I suppose that my ‘guaranteed disapproval and a face like a funeral’ isn’t much of a prize, but. Just know that you can come to me should you need to.” She nods solemnly - almost a bow - before turning towards the door to leave.

“Now hold on a klick,” Whirl interrupts, jumping from her chair to glare at Cyclonus. “I don’t even know where to start with that, you’ve given me so much to be offended by.” She holds up a claw, forestalling Cyclonus’s taken-aback retort. “First of all? How dare you say I wasn’t good enough to be your enemy! I tried to kill you, you tried to kill me. I guess you’ve gotten some sort of ‘feelings’ and chickened out, sure! But I earned every bit of that and don’t you _dare_ say otherwise.”

Cyclonus blinks. “I apologize. I did not mean to give you the impression that I was disparaging your worth as an adversary. However, I enjoy your company, not as an enemy, but as a companion - a friend. I make no claim upon your own feelings, but know I think of you with respect and goodwill rather than animosity. And if that were not enough, you have saved my friend - my - Tailgate - You have saved Tailgate’s life twice now. It would feel wrong to count you among my enemies when I must be grateful for your help many times over.”

Whirl jabs a claw at Cyclonus’s chest. “I’ve never saved Tailgate’s life. You stabbed her with your weird glowy sword, and you saved her from Getaway’s plot - even after, I’m told, I talked you out of it. You put your spark and metal on the line for her, not me.”

Cyclonus looks down at Whirl’s claw on her chest, making no move to brush it away, then raises her gaze back to Whirl’s optic. “The fact remains that were it not for your suggestion of a method for strengthening her spark, Tailgate would have died on Luna One.” She looks away, reluctant to say more, but drags the words from her throat anyway. “Had she - had that occurred - a part of me, and not an insignificant part, would have died with her. You are responsible for that. More recently, you warned me about Getaway’s plot, with great difficulty, and had your memories altered for your trouble. You have helped me greatly time after time, and I would thank you.”

Whirl laughed, flippant. “Ha! Cyclonus. If I saved Tailgate’s life then Tailgate owes me one! Tell her when you see her next that Whirl gets first pick next movie night, and stop acting like I’ve done _anything_ for you.”

“You have. You told _me_ about the Greatsword. You warned _me_ about Megatron, in the last few seconds you had before your memory vanished completely. I owe you, Whirl!”

Whirl, agitated, clacks her pincers. “No, you _don’t_. You didn’t kill me when you had the _chance_ on Luna One - I gave you the _chance_ to save Tailgate. That’s all squared away, then. And I’m the one who let you walk from this room not knowing she was in danger - if I decided to warn you out of spite for Getaway turning on me, it’s still my fault she got hurt at all.”

Cyclonus shakes her head. “Whatever happened in this room or that one, you could not have warned me after Getaway turned on you; you would have been incapacitated by the nudge gun. All of the clocks were set to Megatron’s habsuite number - am I supposed to believe that you did that while fainted on the floor? That Getaway and Atomizer set them all as a warning for me? No. You warned me because you cared, whether for Tailgate or for me I don’t care, but you decided to save her.”

“Look, Cyclonus,” Whirl hisses, “You don’t know what happened and I don’t remember. You can thank some other Whirl for what she maybe did, because _I_ didn’t save your little girlfriend. Go kiss _that_ Whirl’s tail fins and leave me alone.”

Cyclonus nodded gravely. “I will leave you be, but remember this: regardless of whether you remember doing it, you saved Tailgate for the second time, and I am in your debt. You are not obligated to indulge my offer of companionship, but know that I would still enjoy your company should you wish to provide it.” She turns to leave again, but pauses before stepping back towards Whirl and pulling something small out of her subspace. “Here,” she says, extending a hand to Whirl. “Tailgate wanted me to give you this.”

Whirl reaches out and carefully takes the offered pad. Cyclonus nods one last time, then leaves Whirl to read it privately. Blinking on it is a message:

> Whirl: Thank you for saving my life. I know you enjoy Earth culture, so I thought I’d invite you to watch some films or something. Your movie your choice! Come to our habsuite if you wanna talk about it!

Whirl reads the message, then blinks. Letting out a bark of laughter, she tosses the pad to the side, letting it rest on her shelf. “Oh Tailgate. You tricky thing,” she mutters. “I just might have to take you up on that.”


End file.
